Swerb wrote:Go start a blog if you want to tell the world your incomprehendible ramblings.

Cerebral_DownTime wrote:I have a big arm and can throw the ball pretty damn far...... maybe even over those moutains. The Browns should sign me, i'll let you all in locker room to drink beer. Then we can all go out the parking lot to watch me do motorcycle stunts.

As disappointed as I am, and as tempted as I am to just not watch nor care anymore, I am going to give Gilbert my support. He's been a great owner for the most part, doesn't embarrass the city and deserves to be treated better than LeBron supposedly treated him this week.

It might sound bitter to say there was some player collusion in this, but too bad, so now I'm pulling for an owner for a change.

I'm in Gilbert's camp and I hope he takes this personal and gets this town and himself a ring before LePunk gets one.

...and I'm gonna be that guy right now and say, LeBron isn't even that good.

Criminals in this town used to believe in things...honor, respect."I heard your dog is sick, so bought you this shovel"

FUDU wrote:As disappointed as I am, and as tempted as I am to just not watch nor care anymore, I am going to give Gilbert my support. He's been a great owner for the most part, doesn't embarrass the city and deserves to be treated better than LeBron supposedly treated him this week.

It might sound bitter to say there was some player collusion in this, but too bad, so now I'm pulling for an owner for a change.

I'm in Gilbert's camp and I hope he takes this personal and gets this town and himself a ring before LePunk gets one.

...and I'm gonna be that guy right now and say, LeBron isn't even that good.

+10.. awesome take FUDU. I plan on buying a partial ticket plan in 11-12 since most folks are locked in for 10-11.. Even 3-5 games (dont have a ton of scratch) but something to try to thank him for his support of the city.

“Baseball is like church. Many attend but few understand.”- Wes Westrum

"The future is like a Japanese game show, we have no idea whats going on." - Tracy Jordan

"Gentlemen, Chicolini here may talk like an idiot and look like an idiot, but don't let that fool you. He really is an idiot."-Rufus T. Firefly

I say you let the current group play out the season and get used to the new offense. Next year, you try to swap Antawn in the offseason as an expiring when he's worth something. You keep Mo and Telfair, since w/o Delonte you really need to find someone that can make something happen.

Still, too soon to really think about it.

Check me out at Dawgsbynature, where I write stuff, or @twitter as Josh Finney.

I don't want 25-30 wins. I want a record for worst team ever and I want that #1 pick to build from. Fleece away, but make no mistake, this year is a failure if we aren't in a position to get Barnes and a legit max guy in the offseason (not saying he'll come).

CP wrote:I don't want 25-30 wins. I want a record for worst team ever and I want that #1 pick to build from. Fleece away, but make no mistake, this year is a failure if we aren't in a position to get Barnes and a legit max guy in the offseason (not saying he'll come).

Because the best way to win a championship is to go tanking for other bozos with entitlement issues.

"The fucking Who...... If I want to watch old people run around ill go set fire to a nursing home." - CDT

swerb wrote:Its stupid to even think about the complete tear down option, cause theres no chance it happens.

Gilbert has a lot of season tickets sold for next year ... but the following year he has none sold, and also has a casino coming.

He will aggressively make moves to keep this team competitive right now. Talking about shedding salary or a potential top 5 pick anytime soon is fantasy land.

If done right, he could go into next year with 45 million in cap room and a top 5 pick. This isn't the Knicks where you trade years of draft picks to gut your roster... I'm talking about not adding anything major long-term and dumping Mo, Jamison and Boobie.

In Cleveland of all places a barely average basketball team is going to sell approximately 5% more season tickets then a horrible one after this LBJ debacle.

When you are cross selling mortgages, a minor league hockey team, Fatheads, and a casino ... there is a massive difference between have 10,000 people in the building 50 times a year as opposed to 21,000. That's not even getting into the impact of being able to put those products in front of people on TV, and all the other stuff you sell that goes along with people following and going downtown to watch the team.

Not just a basketball team to Gilbert. Its a basketball team that is at the center of a network of businesses. You go downtown to see the games, those businesses are marketed everywhere. And the direct relationship between the # of people that give a shit about the team and the profitability of the casino will be very significant.

"It's like dating a woman who hates you so much she will never break up with you, even if you burn down the house every single autumn." ~ Chuck Klosterman on Browns fans relationship with the Browns

Again, show me where a 'Blow It All Up' strategy worked for any championship team in the past four years.

Well, for the teams in the last 4 years the strategy was 'have the GM of a crappy team with old ties to the organization trade us the missing piece for pennies on the dollar.' I'm not sure that's a better strategy than 'blow it all up'.

Celtic and Heat were built by tearing it down, Duncan was snagged by a top pick, etc.. list goes on. And if you think people are going to watch or care about a maybe 30 win team you are on crack, the ticket sale difference is going to be tiny either way. Worst thing. a team can do in the league is shooting for 25 to 35 wins a year, period.

aoxo1 wrote:People need to stop pretending the Celtics weren't built with draft picks.

The only top 5 I remember now was Jeff Green who wound up part of the Shuttlesworth deal, so they kind of were. They just hit well-enough on the draft no matter where they picked, and used those assets to build the team.

"The fucking Who...... If I want to watch old people run around ill go set fire to a nursing home." - CDT

You can add recently successful teams that are still growing that have been built through the draft with good vets being plugged in. Blazers, Thunder, Bulls. Throw Hickson and the Congolese Beansprout out there and let's loose us some games.

aoxo1 wrote:People need to stop pretending the Celtics weren't built with draft picks.

The only top 5 I remember now was Jeff Green who wound up part of the Shuttlesworth deal, so they kind of were. They just hit well-enough on the draft no matter where they picked, and used those assets to build the team.

1 top five and tanking to let all of the kids grow. Kids grew while tanking and became assets and they collected a ton of cap friendly contracts to move.

The blew it all up, hard and reaped the benefits.

If Gilbert let's stubborness turn this team into a 30 win version of the Jamison All-Stars he's a bigger idiot then anyone ever imagined.

Well, if there is one silver lining in all of this at least we won't have to watch "LeIso" anymore. I am not sure that it was in Byron Scott's offensive plan anyways, but I was never a fan of watch a guy dribble the shot clock down to 3 seconds and then chuck a 20 footer or run to the rim and pray.

Coming from a Wolverine, we're the football equivalent of a formerly abused wife of a meth addict who just remarried the safe nice guy. We're just glad we have someone who's aware that it's a rivalry and that tackling on defense is integral. Baby steps.

Of course we need to burn it down and rebuild from scratch. I'm sure even Gilbert knows that. The problem is is that that work for Cleveland. Ever. The Indians have proven it can't really be done, and the NBA championships only come to LA or Miami or Boston.

Otherwise, you need to luck out once every thirty years, get a once a generation draft pick and build around him. That plan works once every thirty years. Miss that window, and your done. Well, we missed that window. If sitting back and praying to get another LBJ who will just fuck us again is the best we can do, I got no interest in that. I'll still follow the Cavs cause I'm compulsive that way, but damn, that window's closed, and nothing but time and luck can open it. Not fun for anyone.

Per Windy, Heat are trying to get Cavs to do a S&T for James. I probably take the draft picks and $15 million trade exception along with one of their unsigned drafted players to whom they hold the rights. You can't have enough Sasha Kauns.

You can hold it for a year, no? Not disputing Windy but if you use up the cap space on FAs and make a trade or two, you can easily find yourself back over the cap (though I'd still prefer to blow it all up).